Thread by @MutualDestroy

A short list of high ranking and notable Nazis who were absorbed by NATO after WW2 🧵

Adolf Heusinger is undoubtedly the highest ranking and most infamous. Heusinger was Hitler’s Chief of Staff and was key in planning the invasions Poland, France, and Denmark. (Here he is seen with Hitler, to the far left of the photo)

The invasion of Poland alone saw up to 6 million total deaths. It is also where Germany would build the most infamous death camp of all, Auschwitz.

After the end of WW2, Heusinger was not put on trial by the Allies. Rather, he was absorbed into the newly formed West German military and eventually served as NATO’s Chief of Staff from 1961-1964.

Ernst Ferber was a German major in WW2. He received a 1st Class Iron Cross from Hitler in 1945. He served as NATO’s Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in Central Europe from 1973-1975.

Ferber was a part of the Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht were responsible for a slew of war crimes during WW2. They executed hundreds of thousands of Soviet POWs, an act they internally acknowledged as illegal under the Geneva Convention.

The Wehrmacht would brand captured women partisans with the words “Whores for Hitler’s Troops”. There are dozens of instances of mass rape on the Eastern front committed by Wehrmacht forces, including mass rape and murder of pregnant Jewish women in Lviv.

(This famous photo is from a pogrom in Lviv)

As stated before, Ferber was never tried for any of his crimes or involvement in the war. He did, however, receive a Full Honor ceremony (pictured) during a visit with US Armed Forces in 1975.

Johann von Kielmansegg was another ranking member of the Wehrmacht (General Staff Officer to the High Command). After the war, he would serve as NATO’s Commander in Chief of Allied Forces in Central Europe from 1967-1968. (He is on the left in the first photo)

Hans Speidel was Erwin Rommel’s Chief of Staff during WW2. He also served in West Germany’s military during the 1950s and became the Supreme Commander of NATO’s ground forces in Central Europe from 1957-1963.

Rommel’s forces in Northern Africa and France were often accused of an array of war crimes, most commonly being the execution of surrendering POWs. Rommel, of course, is known as one of Hitler’s most essential men.

These are just a few of the dozens of examples of ranking Nazis who were absorbed into NATO’s high command. It is important to remember this as NATO not only still exists, but continues to engage in war making in Europe on behalf of capitalist (mostly American) interests.